Should we buy the Itasca Solei 34T

dorcol · 11-03-2015, 04:44 PM

It looks pretty, love the layout, price is great. What do you think? We read about the slides and the gas only water heater and steel wheels. Are these things a reason to walk away? Can of any of them be changed? Thanks for any input.

Rockwood27 · 11-03-2015, 05:59 PM

The 34T only has a 4000 lb. tow capacity if you're at max GVW. I personally think one would be better off getting a 36 foot gas engined Winnebago instead of the Solei. You would save 10's of thousands of $ with the gasser and not have any difference in quality.

zman-az · 11-03-2015, 06:45 PM

After my slide went bad I regret my purchase. I believe the slide will be a repeating issue for the coaches life, getting worse as the coach gets older. I had insurance to cover my last fix but when that runs out the repair will be around $4000 per incident not to mention it takes a couple weeks to fix. Other than the slide issues I love my coach. I got my fingers crossed that some sort of aftermarket kit comes out to resolve the current slid issues.

Here is the basic breakdown of the repair
Labor $1200
Parts. $2200
Shipping $200
Sales tax and misc

grtharris · 11-03-2015, 07:29 PM

dorcol, What I have noticed is Winnebago cut a lot of corners to get the price down on the diesel pusher. DO NOT assume anything, if there is any features on your present coach you really like make the dealer show you the same features on the Solei.

RVLola · 11-06-2015, 10:52 AM

There is a great Facebook page for Solei/Forza owners with a lot of happy campers. You should check it out.
We have a Forza 34t and are very happy. We moved up from a Forest River product and are pleased with Winnebago quality.
The late models of 2015 had gas and electric water heaters, generator auto-start and some other improvements.

Forza Tom · 11-20-2015, 09:03 AM

We have a Forza (sister model) and the have switched slide manufacturers at some point during 2015 so all the new units have a different slide mechanism. Knock on wood we haven't had any issues with the slide and only minor issues with the coach in general.

Hope this helps.

AISTQM · 11-20-2015, 01:09 PM

I just bought a 2016 36G. Slides are Power Gear.

Gormleys · 11-21-2015, 02:46 PM

We have the earlier 2015 Forza with the bad slides. They have been in a replaced once on the large slide and they say it shouldn't happen again (we will see). As this is common on any manufacturer that used these slides, it is certainly not a reason to walk away. Besides as noted they are no longer using them anyways. Other than that, we love the layout and the comfort of driving the diesel. The air ride and smooth acceleration put a gasser to shame. I love the size and with the full slide-out, it is very comfortable. We get a pretty steady 9mpg even pulling our toad.

I would buy it again!

Ceratto's Grotto · 01-21-2016, 03:13 PM

A used 34T/36G Forza/Solei are on our short list of motor homes we are considering. In regards to this slide out mechanical issue, how would one identify which models/years and such have/do not have these?

Gormleys · 01-23-2016, 02:18 PM

As noted, Winnie switched to the Powerglide slides mid-2015 on the Forza's. Before that, beware unless already replaced. The rails are different between the two slide mechanism. There are a couple pictures posted someplace here within this forum that shows the differences. Winnebago has also been publishing updates on how to repair the older slides to its repair facilities. Only time will tell whether or not they have corrected the problem with the older ones.

Forza Tom · 01-24-2016, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ceratto's Grotto

A used 34T/36G Forza/Solei are on our short list of motor homes we are considering. In regards to this slide out mechanical issue, how would one identify which models/years and such have/do not have these?

We love our 36G! Perfect size for us! We considered the Adventurer 38 but after driving both it was clear that there is a big difference between gas and diesel both in ride, performance, and rattles. We feel well worth the extra $'s

Our's will tow 5K which is more than enough for our toad. We could probably tow more because we aren't even pushing the GVW but 5K is all we needed.

We have never been half bath people so the one bath suited our needs.

The room an storage in the bedroom is great. We opted for the king bed and our only complaint is the small night tables.

We have had it since August and put 3000 trouble free mile on her and so far very happy with our choice.

Lanny1763 · 01-24-2016, 07:35 AM

Doreen and Jack:

DW and I previously owned a 2014 Solei 34T. We never had a slide issue with the original Schwintek (sp?) slides. What I will caution you is to make sure of the following:

1) Storage bays don't leak when driving in rain
2) Windshield and driver's window don't leak
3) While driving, sometimes all the gauges in dash will go dead, and then just as quickly they come back to life. Scary when it happens. It doesn't matter whether your driving on smooth highway or rough, at highway speeds or not. Might happen twice in a matter of minutes, and then it may be months before it happens again.

Good luck.

USN AV8R · 04-02-2016, 07:21 PM

My wife and I have a 2014 Solei 34T and love it, great lay out and knock wood no problems with the slides.

Gormleys · 04-04-2016, 08:01 PM

As Lanny1763 notes, some of the Forza do have rain leaks. We saw that for the first time driving through the Big Storm in February. I was told by many folks just to park it and wait it out instead of driving. We did not not have any Windshield or front window leaks, but the big bay did leak and a couple of the back windows leaked. The MH is in for warranty repair now for these (they say they found an issue and fixed it for the bay leak).

We have a 2015 and have never experienced the dash gauge problem.

We love the layout and really think the diesel is a big improvement over a gasser.

RV Vagabond · 04-08-2016, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVLola

There is a great Facebook page for Solei/Forza owners with a lot of happy campers. You should check it out.
We have a Forza 34t and are very happy. We moved up from a Forest River product and are pleased with Winnebago quality.
The late models of 2015 had gas and electric water heaters, generator auto-start and some other improvements.

I have looked for that Facebook page and couldn't find it - can you give a link?

Forza Tom · 04-08-2016, 07:13 AM

Here you go!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/347877592058932/

Enjoy

tamdle · 05-28-2016, 06:40 PM

After done all of the research and such, I really like the 2016 Palazzo 33.4. Went to Camping World today to look at the Palazzo, and it was a very disappointment. Thought that the workmanship gets any better by now, but it was so bad...

Anyway, I saw a 34T across the lot, decided to take a look and to my disappointment of the Palazzo, I was impressed with the 34T right away. I may change my mind to the 34T instead of Palazzo.

The only thing that I am concern is the kitchen, refrigerator, washer, dryer, and the wardrobe on the same slide and the slide is driven by "2 siimzy gears track" each side of the slide. I was wondering:
1 - If anyone have any problem with the slide at all?
2 - How reliable is the 34T model specific?
3 - How is the Winnebago customer service, are they really customer oriented to make everyone happy?

Thanks.

Gormleys · 05-28-2016, 10:08 PM

We have the Winnie Forza version of the 34T. Due to slide rail problems, they beefed up the large slide to bigger "slimy" rails mid-last year. I haven't seen ant complaints since the switch occurred. All of the minor problems the we have had with the 34T have been covered by Winnebago support. We had a Thor ACE prior to the 34T and wanted the Palazzo but went with the 34T due to the apparent higher quality. We had quite a few warranty issues with the ACE and Thor and CW that we haven't experienced with the 34T.

Good luck with your search for the ultimate MH!

peterson · 05-28-2016, 10:16 PM

I vote Solei. It's tough to find a better bang for your buck diesel pusher.

tamdle · 05-28-2016, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gormleys

We have the Winnie Forza version of the 34T. Due to slide rail problems, they beefed up the large slide to bigger "slimy" rails mid-last year. I haven't seen ant complaints since the switch occurred. All of the minor problems the we have had with the 34T have been covered by Winnebago support. We had a Thor ACE prior to the 34T and wanted the Palazzo but went with the 34T due to the apparent higher quality. We had quite a few warranty issues with the ACE and Thor and CW that we haven't experienced with the 34T.

Good luck with your search for the ultimate MH!

Thank Gormleys, I just look at the 2016 model today, the rail looks like "floating" not attached to the slide, just the end of the rail was attached, not sure how wide the rail was but is still looks kinda thin for me.